<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>I May Have Found An Underground Cult But All I Wanted Were The Doritos I Paid For by AsagiStilinski</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23979778">I May Have Found An Underground Cult But All I Wanted Were The Doritos I Paid For</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski'>AsagiStilinski</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Action/Adventure, Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Vampire, College Setting, Drama, Established Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Established Relationship, Exploration, M/M, Married Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Misunderstandings, Mystery, Vampires</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 19:20:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>15,960</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23979778</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>What starts as a mission of vengeance against a vending machine is about to lead Yuri Plisetsky and his new companion Otabek down a very long and strange path involving underground tunnels, fake graves, doomsday bunkers, and blood, unraveling conspiracy theories that could lead to the discovery of apocalypse cults and political cover-ups</p><p>...</p><p>And all Yuri wanted was a bag of doritos</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Otabek Altin/Yuri Plisetsky</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>I May Have Found An Underground Cult But All I Wanted Were The Doritos I Paid For</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/venom_for_free/gifts">venom_for_free</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For Venom, inspired by this https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1236366815107919872.html because she's right, it is Otayuri xD</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Yuri Plisetsky stared in anger at his greatest enemy, his eyes narrowed and his nose wrinkled</p><p>"Today, fucking bastard, you're going down," he declared boldly, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a crisp $1 bill</p><p>Inhaling, he slid the dollar into the vending machine, glaring at the towering glass-and-metal beast with all his might and watching it consume his money</p><p>Slowly, he pressed "A" followed by "3" and watched the bag of Doritos begin to unfurl it's self from the clutches of the evil machine, but just as it was beginning to drop....</p><p>It paused</p><p>THE FUCKING THING LEFT HIS DORITOS HANGING THERE <em>AGAIN</em></p><p>Furious, Yuri started to shake the thing, snarling like a rabid demonic cat as he practically clawed at the thing, shouting multiple obscenities in Russian as he tried to maul the machine</p><p>"You need some help?"</p><p>Panting and fuming, now looking scarcely like he had just been through some kind of attack, Yuri spun around, glaring at the man in the doorway</p><p>"Depends, can you defeat the world's greatest enemy?"</p><p>With a cocky smirk, the plaid-clad brunette all but skipped forward, cracking his nuckles in the process</p><p>"Oh yeah, ol' Betty and I have been through a few rounds,"</p><p>Dear God he'd named the thing....</p><p>"Well skip your torrid affair and get my fucking Doritos,"</p><p>"Alright alright, chill, chill,"</p><p>Clearing his throat, the stranger squared up against the machine, and then promptly......... kicked the living shit out of it</p><p>Yuri watched in stunned silence as the six-foot-whatever moron then elbowed the thing before finally curling himself around it like a koala and shaking it</p><p>"Ta-da!!" he proclaimed as the bag dropped into the bottom of the machine</p><p>...</p><p>Unfortunately, before Yuri could reach into the thing and grab his chips....</p><p>The machine fell over</p><p>For another moment of silence, both of them stared at the thing, before slowly looking up at eachother, mouths agape, as the sound of someone else arriving in the doorway caught their attention</p><p>"<em>Stiles</em>!"</p><p>Head wipping around like a slingshot, the stranger stared at another man- with black hair and a disapproving, though not necessarily surprised, expression- before jabbing a finger at Yura, shouting "HE DID IT!" and booking it out of the room, followed by his supposed freind shaking his head in shame and following him</p><p>"Fucking Americans..." Yuri snarled, staring down at the machine breifly and wondering if he could possibly force it onto it's side so he could get his Doritos</p><p>Would they test it for fingerprints, he wondered?</p><p>Though if they did his were already all over it anyway but-</p><p>...</p><p>Suddenly sensing the presence of another stranger in the doorway, Yuri turned around, face promptly turned red at the sight of the stranger</p><p>He was kind of ridiculously gorgeous, with dark hair, dark eyes, and a square jaw, and he was staring at Yuri with one eyebrow cleanly quirked up at him</p><p>...Shit this wasn't good</p><p>"This wasn't me!" he shouted suddenly, his face pale and his hands held up</p><p>"It was some fucking idiot-! W-What are... you doing....?"</p><p>Wordlessly, the stranger had stepped into the room, right past Yuri, and bent down, carefully pushing the vending machine up enough for Yuri to reach in and get what he wanted</p><p>There was a hole just enough for him to grab a few bags of Doritos and a couple of candy bars, so Yuri dove for it</p><p>"Um... thanks?" he said slowly as he gathered the snacks in his arms, only earning a small nod from the stranger in return</p><p>"We should get out of here before someone else comes by,"</p><p>"R-Right, good idea," the blonde agreed, face still tinged pink as the stranger let the bastard-machine go and headed out of the room, Yuri tailing eagerly right behind him</p><p>"So uh... that was pretty cool of you.... do you like.. lift weights or something?"</p><p>...</p><p>
  <em>Do you lift weights or something?</em>
</p><p>God, what kind of question was <em>that</em>!??!</p><p>"I just mean, ya' know, you're uh... pretty strong.... and shit...."</p><p>Wow, he was making this all much worse wasn't he?</p><p>If he'd had a free hand, he would have smacked himself in the head</p><p>"....I swim," the stranger finally said</p><p>"H-Huh?"</p><p>"I'm on the swim team,"</p><p>"Oh! That's... that's really cool!! Are you competitive?"</p><p>"Sometimes, it's not really my thing though,"</p><p>"Y-Yeah, I know what you mean, I mean I dance but competitions? Pft, who needs 'em?"</p><p>....</p><p>Well that was both awkward <em>and</em> a lie, two for two there</p><p>"What kind of dance?"</p><p>Oh wow, he hadn't completely blown this yet, good for him</p><p>"Ballet, mostly, but I've done ribbon dancing too, and I've been thinking of taking pole dancing classes too,"</p><p>SHIT don't just blurt that out-!</p><p>"I mean for the core strength ya' know? Gotta work on that core!"</p><p>"You must be really talented,"</p><p>Yuri paused, blinking as the two of them stopped outside of the library</p><p>"H-Huh?"</p><p>"To be in pre-med and considering taking a completely unrelated class on top of that, you must be really talented,"</p><p>"H-How'd you know I was pre-med?"</p><p>"We take a couple of classes together,"</p><p>Wait a minute <em>what</em>!?</p><p>Before Yuri could Scream about that, the stranger gave a simple "I have to go, see you later Kitkat," before disappearing into the library</p><p>Blinking, Yuri looked down into his armload of goods and spotted several Kitkat bars</p><p>.....</p><p>Well <em>damn</em></p><p> </p><p>~+~</p><p> </p><p>Yuri thought that he might just lose his mind</p><p>His leg bouncing in frustration as he tossed his head back</p><p>Goddamn Minami for being late <em>again</em></p><p>Yuri was taking valuable time out of his own schedule to tutor the brat and this is how he repays him!?</p><p>Fucking-....</p><p>He rubbed his head in annoyance, breifly wondering if he was in part so on edge because of how much caffeine he'd had that morning, wich had been nothing short of a necessity thanks to pulling a near all-night study session and then getting up at Ass O'Clock in the morning for an exam</p><p>Oh well, he didn't care, he'd probably die early anyway but atleast he'd do so well caffeinated</p><p>Just as he was getting ready to text the little shit for being over fifteen minutes late, someone tapped on the door, jerking Yuri out of his stupor and almost out of his chair too, head wipping around and face turning pink when he realized that Hot Swimmer With The Vending Machine Magic was standing in the doorway</p><p>"Yuri?"</p><p>"Y-Yeah?"</p><p>"Minami sends a message, he won't be able to make your session today, he had to stay behind to do some extra laps in the pool,"</p><p>Oh, Yuri hadn't realized that Minami was on the swim team, evidently with Hot Swimmer With The Vending Machine Magic...</p><p>"Damn him..." he grumbled, tossing his head back</p><p>He could have spent this last fifteen minutes doing something that was actually <em>usefull</em>, like getting in some extra dance practice or some extra studying or going to the little shitty diner across campus and rewarding himself for surely acing his exam earlier with two cheeseburgers and a milkshake...</p><p>As he bemoaned his lost fifteen minutes however, something suddenly occurred to him and his head snapped back up, staring at the stranger in surprise</p><p>"Hey, how'd you know my name?"</p><p>"I told you, we take classes together,"</p><p>"And you..... remembered my name?"</p><p>The brunette's lips ticked suspiciously towards a grin, a slightly softer expression on his face now</p><p>"Well you're the only Russian I take classes with, so...."</p><p>"Are you Russian too?" Yuri asked curiously, rising to his feet</p><p>Otherwise that'd be an awfully weird detail to make himself aware of...</p><p>"Kazakh,"</p><p>Oh, that was unexpected, Yuri had never even met anyone from Kazakhstan before</p><p>"Cool, you gonna give me your name then or am I just gonna have to call you Kazakh Man, like some cheap fucking superhero?"</p><p>Ok, here we go, gaining a little confidence, this was good, he could flirt</p><p>"Otabek,"</p><p>"Otabek..." Yuri repeated slowly, testing out the syllables on his tongue</p><p>"Neat name,"</p><p>"Thanks, so is your's,"</p><p>Oh god oh yes fuck yeah Hot Otabek thought his name was cool NICE</p><p>"You uh.... wanna get some food, Otabek? Or am I gonna have to celebrate acing my anatomy exam by myself?"</p><p>"We just had our exam this morning, how do you know you aced it?"</p><p>"I'm very confident,"</p><p>If Yuri's hearing was on point, he could swear that he just heard the smallest, faintest laugh <em>ever</em></p><p>
  <em>Nice</em>
</p><p>He had made Hot Otabek laugh</p><p>"Food sounds good, I had to skip lunch, swim practice,"</p><p>"Oh damn, sounds rough,"</p><p>Yuri remembered vividly when he had still been taking his scheduled dance classes and how inconvenient it had been to keep up with those and school at the same time</p><p>Often he wished he had just been homeschooled and been able to pursue an athletic career like professional ballet, but his mother had been very strict about pursuing academics and making anything else "extra", and by the time he went through puberty, his body had started changing and making it more difficult for him to keep up with being an A+ student <em>and</em> potentially a professional ballerina or Olympic ribbon dancer....</p><p>It was a lost opportunity he still regretted but he supposed medicine was a good second choice in career so it wasn't a total loss, and athletics could only last him so long anyway, being a doctor, as his mother so frequently reminded him, was a stable career he could have his entire life</p><p>.....</p><p>Potentially</p><p>"It's alright, I like swimming," Otabek shrugged back</p><p>"Well, as long as you like it then I guess it's worth it," Yuri nodded, picking up his backpack from the floor and cursing under his breath when doing so unintentionally nocked over his chair</p><p>He hadn't realized he'd put the thing down on top of his backpack strap....</p><p>"So why were you and Minami meeting in the band room anyhow?" Otabek asked curiously as Yuri moved down to the floor to pick up the chair, eyes rolling when he noticed that it had snagged on a corner of the carpet</p><p>"I was going to use a projection thing from my laptop and the band room is the only place empty at this time of day with a big enough white board," Yuri answered, moving the chair out of the way and slipping his fingers under the edge of carpeting, intending to slide it back into place... when he realized just how easy it was to peel up....</p><p>Curiosity getting the best of him, he continued pulling up the carpeting.... and felt a wave of.... <em>something</em> that he couldn't quite describe flow over him</p><p>Beneath a very large panel of carpet was some kind of trap door</p><p>"Yuri...?" Otabek called slowly, making his way over to the blonde</p><p>"What do you think this is?" Yuri asked curiously, tilting his head</p><p>"I really have no idea,"</p><p>"Let's open it and find out!" Yuri grinned</p><p>"Is.... that really such a good idea...?"</p><p>"...It's <em>an</em> idea," Yuri settled, hooking his fingers into the door and lifting it up, grinning from ear to ear when he uncovered the opening beneath the door, it wasn't very deep, from the looks of it, Yuri could see the ground beneath</p><p>"Fuck the food, we'll eat later, let's explore this shit,"</p><p>"I don't know..."</p><p>"Oh come on Otabek, it'll be fun! We could end up involved with a secret organization or something, like the Avengers, or at the very least we'd have a cool story to tell," Yuri insisted, securing his backpack over his shoulders and pulling his phone out of his pocket, turning the flash-light function on and slipping down into what seemed to be a tunnel</p><p>It was pretty shallow, he could only barely manage to fit all fours, but he certainly couldn't sit up in there</p><p>And upon shining the light ahead, he saw no immediate end to the long passageway</p><p>Hearing a sigh from behind him, Yuri practically beamed as Otabek started to climb into the tunnel behind him, immediately starting to crawl forward to give his new freind some room</p><p>"So what happens if we keep crawling and we find nothing and then can't turn around?"</p><p>"...Crawl backwards?"</p><p>Ok, even by his own standards that didn't exactly sound like a <em>great</em> solution, but Yuri was sleep-deprived and running on five cups of coffee and couldn't be held responsible for his current decision making skills</p><p>Otabek apparently agreed, sighing but continuing to follow Yuri anyway</p><p>"Another question, how long do we give this before we decide it's a useless experiment and try to go back?"</p><p>"Mm... I dunno, maybe half an hour?"</p><p>Ofcourse he didn't know how he would gauge that time, he wasn't exactly paying attention to the clock and didn't know when they had started this journey either</p><p>"Half an hour," Otabek agreed, much to Yuri's delight</p><p>For a wile they crawled around before coming to a fork in the tunnel system, pausing for a moment to discuss</p><p>"Wich way should we go? Left or right?"</p><p>"Left," Otabek decided</p><p>"Any particular reason?"</p><p>"No.... just feel like it,"</p><p>That was as good a reason as any Yuri supposed, so he eagerly complied with it, taking the left turn as suggested</p><p>The tunnels were definitely uncomfortable and cramped, he was already planning for the next time they'd come exploring- taking the right, perhaps- and all that they would need</p><p>Gloves, for one thing, probably nee pads, and definitely head-lamps....</p><p>Much to their releif, the left passage was quite short, and Yuri could see a bit of light seeping in from above</p><p>So he carefully climbed up, hands above his head, and started pushing, feeling utter delight as the panel above him moved to the side, allowing them to climb out of the tunnel...... and directly into Nirvana</p><p>"Oh my god.... PARADISE!!!!!"</p><p>Somehow, against all odds and senses of reason, they had emerged in the vending machine stock room</p><p>Yuri swore for a breif moment he could hear the trumpets of heaven and the songs of angels</p><p>It was as though Lady Karma herself had given him a thumb's up or something, and before Otabek had even fully emerged from the tunnel, he was already shrugging his backpack off and yanking it open, starting to fill it with as many snacks as possible</p><p>"Why exactly is there a tunnel leading from the band room to the supply room...?" Otabek asked slowly as he emerged from the tunnel, carefully placing the panel back where it belonged as he watched Yuri raid the room of it's Doritos and Kitkats</p><p>Among other things</p><p>"Who knows? Who <em>cares</em>!? This is Heaven! Oh my god we SO have to come back here with empty backpacks and stock up!!"</p><p>"Technically this is stealing, you do know that right?"</p><p>"Well <em>technically</em>that fucking bastard of a vending machine has eaten like two months worth of my money and barely ever produced any results so I think I'm fucking <em>owed</em>, and TECHNICALLY, with the amount of tuition we paid to get here, this college should be giving us food for fucking free!"</p><p>Otabek gave a tilt of his head, as though in consideration that perhaps Yuri was right, and promptly grabbed a couple of Almond Joys</p><p>They spent their entire lunch trip to the diner planning out the details of how to capitalize on their newfound discovery</p><p> </p><p>~+~</p><p> </p><p>When the following Tuesday arrived- the day that they had mutually decided to go back to the tunnels and re-raid the snack room- Yuri was practically bouncing with excitement</p><p>He had barely managed to get through his classes</p><p>Between the excitement of seeing Otabek again and the excitement of getting to milk his tuition dollars for extra snacks, he was pretty sure that he was going to lose his mind</p><p>By the time they finally got to the band room and put their plan into motion, he was nearly unraveling</p><p>Now that they had some supplies, the journey through the tunnel was actually not as bad as it had been before, and they managed to make it to the supply room with actual ease</p><p>"We should explore the other direction on the way back," Yuri noted as he gleefully tossed a few bags of Chips A'hoy Minnies into his backpack</p><p>"I mean who knows what they'll have on the other end?"</p><p>"Like what, a bank?" Otabek teased, sliding several packs of mini doughnuts into his backpack</p><p>"Maybe! Or like, an ATM stock room or something? Do those exist?"</p><p>"You do realize that stealing cash is a little more serious than nicking some chips and cookies right?"</p><p>"Hey, I'm only pre-med, I haven't taken any Hippocratic oaths yet,"</p><p>Otabek shook his head, but evidently didn't see any harm in the matter, so decided to go along with it</p><p>That was how they ended up in the particular position that they ended up in- crawling down another tunnel instead of back towards the bandroom with backpacks full of food</p><p>Almost instantly the decision was regretted</p><p>Incidentally, the tunnel down the right was <em>significantly</em> longer than the one on the left had been, to the point that they actually had to stop for a break at one point, small and insignificant as it was, but they had mutually agreed that by that point they really had gone much too far to just stop completely and turn around, so they kept going, albeit somewhat hesitantly, until finally, <em>finally</em>, there was something of a light at the end of the tunnel</p><p>...</p><p>Or more specifically a ladder</p><p>Yuri had noticed that the space in the tunnel had started to slowly expand the further they went, by the time they were nearing the end of their journey they probably could have sat up somewhat comfortably, wich made it considerably less strange when they arrived at the ladder and were able to stand up</p><p>"Fuck... are we even under the school anymore...?"</p><p>"I don't know... I... don't <em>think</em> so...." Otabek mused slowly, stepping behind him and exchanging a look with his new freind</p><p>"Want me to go first?"</p><p>"No no, I've got it, it's fine, really,"</p><p>With a hesitant nod, Otabek watched as the blonde gripped onto the ladder and started climbing up, giving him a little space before climbing up after him</p><p>"Ah... the panel is kinda heavy...." Yuri hissed, pushing up on the thing more... and more... and more.... until finally it moved, his heart skipping a beat with excitement as he pushed it away and carefully climbed out</p><p>The floor was concrete, cold and grainy beneath his palms as he pulled himself up, and the space was incredibly dark, it would have been pitch black if not for the headlamps</p><p>"Where.... are we....?" Otabek asked slowly as he emerged from the tunnel</p><p>At first, Yuri was quiet, looking around the small area and squinting slightly</p><p>"It looks like it's just a concrete room...."</p><p>Curiouser and curiouser...</p><p>He started pressing along the walls, searching for something- <em>anything</em>, be it a lock of some kind or some sort of identifiable mark or....</p><p>
  <em>Click</em>
</p><p>Stumbling back a step, Yuri watched wide-eyed as the wall in front of him opened up</p><p>"What in the hell....?"</p><p>On some level, Yuri was afraid</p><p>He was anxious and unsure of what would lie ahead of them, but his excitement, the thrill of finding out more about this place and the secrets it held, was more than enough to continue pushing him forward</p><p>He stepped across the threshold, nose wrinkled slightly as he looked around the new space, and came to a very sobering realization</p><p>"We're in a crypt...."</p><p>"We're in a <em>what</em>?" Otabek repeated as he followed behind him</p><p>"A cry-"</p><p>"'No I heard you, I just-.... <em>how</em>? <em>WHY</em>?"</p><p>"I don't know.... but it's exciting," Yuri beamed, looking around the dark space and seeing mostly blank plaques on the wall.... except for two, wich rested on the wall they had just pushed aside</p><p><em>Aleksander Nikiforov</em> and <em>Ekaterina Nikiforov</em> were the names that stared back at him, the dates below indicating that they had died together, or at the very least on the same day, almost twenty years ago</p><p>"Nikiforov..... do you know of that name?" he asked curiously, tracing over the inscription with his fingertips</p><p>"Can't say that I do,"</p><p>Huh....</p><p>Well, Yuri supposed that was what Google was for</p><p>"This is insane.... tunnels under the school that lead to a crypt....." Otabek said softly, looking around the tomb in amazement</p><p>"No shit, I mean I always thought schools were evil but I had no idea they were like <em>this</em>...."</p><p>"We don't know it it's <em>evil</em>, it's just..... creepy, but alot of old buildings have been reconstructed and repurposed over the years, maybe the school was just one of them,"</p><p>"Ok but explain <em>one</em> viable excuse for why <em>any</em> building would have tunnels secretly connected to a crypt,"</p><p>Not having anything immediately come to mind, Otabek rubbed the back of his neck, shaking his head</p><p>"Thought so," Yuri grinned, moving towards the door of the crypt and narrowing his eyes</p><p>"Damn.... there isn't even a handle... how the fuck does somebody get in and out of here? Just through the tunnels?"</p><p>"Maybe... or..... maybe people come <em>in</em>... but don't go back out? Maybe this place is strictly for access to the tunnels?"</p><p>"Maybe, yeah," Yuri said slowly, head tilting a little as he stared again at the plaques on the wall</p><p>"It's weird though, isn't it? That these are the only two with names? I mean it isn't like they were trying to be discrete or they would have put names on all the plaques, so why <em>just</em> these two? And if they were trying to show where the secret door was then why <em>two</em> instead of just one? Something's not right here,"</p><p>"You mean other than the fact that our school is connected to a crypt?"</p><p>"Yeah, other than that," Yuri snorted back, a small smirk on his lips</p><p>He knew that this was dangerous, he knew that they had stumbled onto something so much stronger than just a secret passageway to some free snacks, but he couldn't find it in himself to be afraid of it- nervous, yes, but not <em>truly</em> afraid</p><p>Instead, the more they discovered, the more excited he became</p><p>"There's something else here Otabek, there's something that's going so much deeper than just some weird tunnels... and I'm gonna find out what it is,"</p><p>Otabek looked considerably less excited than Yuri, but he still offered something close to a smile</p><p>"So, what do you say?" the blonde asked, looking up at Otabek with a grin</p><p>"About what?"</p><p>"Exploring with me! Come on big guy, is this gonna be an us thing or.... a me thing?"</p><p>Some part of Otabek told him to leave it alone</p><p>To go back to campus and forget this ever happened</p><p>But Yuri's expression was so bright and brilliant, like a ray of sunlight....</p><p>"Well, as long as it doesn't interrupt my studies, I guess it can be an 'us' thing,"</p><p>Yuri's expression grew even brighter as he gave Otabek a tight hug</p><p>"This is gonna be great," he promised</p><p>Otabek just hoped he was right</p><p> </p><p>~+~</p><p> </p><p>"Linda Danvers,"</p><p>Otabek glanced up from his biology text book, eyebrows raised as Yuri set a small stack of pappers down in front of him and slid into the seat across from him</p><p>"I'm... sorry?"</p><p>"Do you know who founded this school?"</p><p>Otabek shook his head, dog-earing the page he was on and shutting the book as Yuri pushed the pappers closer to him</p><p>"Linda Danvers, she founded it in 1963, she and her husband Clark died in 2003, leaving behind a ten-year-old son, Victor, who changed his name legally from Victor- spelled with a 'c'- Danvers to Viktor- spelled with a 'k'- Nikiforov right after,"</p><p>Moving a few pages aside, he pointed to a set of black and white photos, then a set of color photos, the two seemingly of the same people</p><p>"Turns out? Miss Linda Danvers and her husband only started popping up around 1938, before that there were no traces of them, but there <em>were</em> traces of a couple named Ekaterina and Aleksander Nikiforov who fled Russia that same year, you can see the pictures of both couples here,"</p><p>"So... the Nikiforovs fled from Russia for seemingly unknown reasons and opened up a medical college in a small town in America? That... doesn't make alot of sense,"</p><p>"You know what makes even less sense though?" Yuri asked, eyebrows raised as he pointed at the photos again</p><p>"These were taken almost thirty years apart, why don't either of them look any older? And how could they have had a ten-year-old in 2003 when Ekaterina was clearly already an adult in the <em>thirties</em>?"</p><p>"Adoption?" Otabek pointed out, eyebrows raised</p><p>"And bad camera quality, neither of wich should actually be much of a surprise,"</p><p>Yuri clearly didn't look happy with that answer</p><p>"Viktor changed his name, legally, when he was only ten, what was the point of that? He'd have had to have permission from a guardian to do that too, seems like alot of work for a ten-year-old,"</p><p>"Maybe he wanted to honor his parents' legacy properly?"</p><p>"Maybe, but I'm not so sure about that..." Yuri said slowly, moving a few of the other pages aside and directing Otabek to another set</p><p>Articles printed out with passages and sentences highlighted here and there</p><p>
  <em>Children's Author Yuri Katsuki Marries Eccentric Millionaire Viktor Nikiforov In Hawaiian Ceremony</em>
</p><p>
  <em>LGBTQ+ Children's Writer And Conservative Parents Go To War- The Battle For Banned Books Continues</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The Queerversation: Why Japanese Children's Writer Is Causing A Stir In Schools And Parenting Circles</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Studio Laika Greenlights "The Rainbow Society" Film Based On Books By Lily Snow</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Bestseller Lily Snow Becomes NY Times #1 For Semi-Biographical "What Happens When Dad Gets Married", Based On Real Life And Husband's Dog</em>
</p><p>"What exactly am I looking for here?" Otabek frowned with confusion</p><p>"Just read the highlighted parts,"</p><p>Still unsure, but trusting Yuri, Otabek's eyes flicked down to read the high-lighted sections of each article, hoping it would bring some light to the subject</p><p>
  <em>Children's author Yuri Katsuki, known better by his pen name Lily Snow, married fiance` Viktor Nikiforov in Hawaiian ceremony this weekend, the couple were reportedly together for only six months before getting engaged last December</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Katsuki is known for his children's books, many of wich are LGBTQ+ themed, wich have begun to stir controversy after gaining popularity and entry into school reading programs and national libraries, wile his husband is a self-made millionaire, focusing on investing in small businesses, artists, and media production, it's rumored that this is how the couple met</em>
</p><p>So far, Otabek wasn't finding anything particularly interesting, but he kept reading, moving onto the next article in the hopes of better information</p><p>
  <em>Never heard of Yuri Katsuki? Chances are, if you have a school-age child or involved in the school system, you're about to hear it over... and over.... and over again</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Better known by his pen name Lily Snow, Katsuki was a relatively unknown children's writer specializing in LGBTQ+ content, until earlier this year when he suddenly began gaining noteriaty after his books started to invade best-seller lists and library shelves... including <strong>school</strong> libraries, wich hardly went over well with conservative parents, who have repeatedly drawn up petitions, protests, and meetings for the queer-positive themed books to be put on the dreaded banned list</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But if you thought the barely known author was going down without a fight, you'd be terribly mistaken</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Katsuki happens to be married to Viktor Nikiforov- never heard of him either? Well that's hardly a surprise, Nikiforov isn't a celebrity, but he's heir to a fortune and is a notable investor, but unlike other popularly known investors such as Laurie Grineer or Mark Cuban, Nikiforov's investments tend to operate more on people than businesses, wile he does have a few publicly made investments in small businesses such as restaurants, local shops, and new products, most of his investments flow into the arts, backing previously unheard of talents in music, literature, and visual arts, as most of Nikiforov's investments are done privately, it's unclear exactly who is included in his portfolio</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But one artist who's widely known to hold Nikiforov's sway is his husband</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The eccentric millionare has spoken at length about investing in people who "inspire" him, and he's never spoken more highly (or more in quantity) than he has about his recently wed spouse</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Katsuki went from obscurity to stocking bookshelves, topping recommendation lists, and filling libraries seemingly overnight, the timing of wich coincided with the start of his and Nikiforov's relationship, leading to speculation that the heir to the Danvers fortune is responsible for fast-tracking the development, it's also speculated that Nikiforov- who is reported as having quite a number of powerfull freinds in high places- used connections with Scholastic- the company currently carrying Katsuki's books- as well as the public school system and national library union- have assisted in putting his husband's work in the spotlight</em>
</p><p> </p><p>"Yuri... I'm not seeing the point in any of this,"</p><p>Rolling his eyes, Yuri leaned across the table, sifting through the pappers to pull out the pages he needed</p><p>"Nikiforov is a millionaire- and they keep saying he's weird too-"</p><p>"Well, <em>eccentric</em>-"</p><p>"And they have a good point!  Sketchy private investments? Investing in <em>people</em> rather than businesses? Higher connections to people who run the country?"</p><p>"There's no proof of that-"</p><p>"There's <em>plenty</em> of proof of that, do you have any idea how hard it is to get something that doesn't please Conservative Karen off of the banned book list? Or to not <em>make</em> that list in the first place? For fuck's sake Harry Potter is still on that list for 'promotion of witchcraft'! I've looked up Katsuki's books and he doesn't exactly hold back on the gay, there is no way in HELL he's doing this on his own, if J.K. Rowling and all of her billions can't get off the banned list, why can he? And look at this one,"</p><p>Sighing, Otabek glanced down at the next page, eyes scanning over the highlighted section</p><p>
  <em>The battle is only just beginning between conservative groups and Lily Snow- real name Yuri Katsuki- over the author's inclusion in school and public children's libraries</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Starting in late August, the author's queer-positive children's books have been a hot topic of conversation, leading to an on-going battle of politics that most independent creators wouldn't have the pull or the finances to fully participate in, but after five months, the war still wages on, and Katsuki has shown no signs of giving in or backing down</em>
</p><p>
  <em>It's lead many to wonder how exactly a previously unknown author from a quaint seaside town in Japan has managed to take on the notoriously conservative public school system and droves of conservative parenting groups seemingly by himself, as support from LGBTQ+ groups and liberal politicians only started recently, but there's one very important person supporting Katsuki that few are accounting for- his husband</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Viktor Nikiforov is hardly a household name, but the millionaire arts investor wed Katsuki just before the fire storm of politics and media blitz hit, and many suspect that he's the one pulling the strings necessary for the previously unknown author to have a fighting chance- or better put, a chance at fighting</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Few spectators of this fight realize exactly how financially taxing this battle is for Katsuki to fight, but between national book signings, legal fees, and travel expenses- wich are quite high as Katsuki travels from state to state arguing in board rooms and court houses and gaining support from other LGBTQ+ activists- the price tag on this war of words must be astronomical- it's suspected that Nikiforov is funding the entire thing</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Though the financial pitfall of this kind of David VS Goliath war is certainly one thing to consider, the far more surprising factor in this battle for books is definitely the legal one, as challenging a book ban is notoriously difficult and almost always settled in small council meetings rather than courtrooms, yet Katsuki has repeatedly managed to drive the fight for his work through legal proceedings that few authors have ever dealt with- especially in such quantity- with talk beginning to circulate that a bigger battle for the sake of LGBTQ+ works may soon be hitting the Supreme Court, spear-headed by one small town author and his well-connected husband, if such a thing happens, it could be a turning point for inclusive children's literature across the nation, but wile it's hardly argued that Katsuki's husband has a few freinds in high places, the question can't help being asked: Are those freinds numerous enough and powerfull enough to take this fight to the next level?</em>
</p><p>"So..... you think Nikiforov is rich and powerfull?" Otabek asked blandly, unable to understand why he had just read so many articles that- aside from restoring one single iota of faith in the betterment of society- seemed to be largely useless</p><p>"No, I <em>know</em> he's rich and powerfull, I <em>think</em> he's leading a cult,"</p><p>........................</p><p>Had... Otabek..... heard that correctly....?</p><p>Blinking slowly, he unconsciously counted his fingers, finding only five, so... nope he wasn't dreaming</p><p>"...You think he's leading a cult... because he has money and alot of lawyer freinds?"</p><p>"No, I think that's just the weird icing on the weird fucking cake, are you just forgetting about the weird crypt and tunnels under the school and shit?"</p><p>"I still struggle to understand how you got <em>cult</em> from all of that though,"</p><p>"Seems about right, look, read this-"</p><p>"Yuri, I appreciate how dedicated you are to this but I was studying," Otabek said gently</p><p>Yuri blinked, as if he had just been presented with a totally foreign concept</p><p>"It's about much more than just money and power- wich let's be honest should just be the same word at this point- he has this thing where he's investing in <em>people</em> rather than <em>projects</em>, the tunnels, the crypt, the name changing-"</p><p>"Let's.... say that you'e right and he <em>is</em> leading a cult," Otabek proposed slowly- he still didn't believe any such thing, for the record, but he had a feeling Yuri would really go on and on about this until he atleast stopped arguing the validity of the idea</p><p>"What are you going to do about it? It isn't exactly illegal to have a cult, if it was all those guys from One Direction would be in prison by now, and unless he's doing something illegal then there's not much recourse you can take,"</p><p>"It isn't about legality, I'm not trying to get him locked up, this is about warning people, exposing the truth so whatever fishy shit he's up to won't get any fishier,"</p><p>Finally deciding that he wasn't going to be getting back to studying any time soon, Otabek leaned closer, a look of genuine concern on his face</p><p>"Is... that really such a good idea though? I mean... he and his husband are fighting an almost impossible battle for LGBTQ+ rights, and are actually <em>winning</em>, we may not see that again for years- <em>decades</em> even, is it really such a good idea to say that the guys who are trying to get gay material off of the banned books list are <em>cultists</em>?"</p><p>Yuri was quiet for a moment, seeming to think that over before slowly shaking his head</p><p>"No... you're right, the greater good is more important,"</p><p>Just as Otabek was about to take a breath of releif, however-</p><p>"But I still want to know for my own benefit, I want to solve this mystery, and look what else I found,"</p><p>Eyebrows quirking up, Otabek stared down at the photos that were suddenly slammed down in front of him</p><p><em>Linda Danvers</em> was written cleanly on one headstone, <em>Clark Danvers</em> sat neatly on the other</p><p>"Why would they need two graves? And in the same graveyard? And under two different names?"</p><p>...Ok, now even Otabek was a bit curious</p><p>"You should have lead with this," he mused</p><p>"So then are you in to keep investigating?" Yuri asked hopefully, his eyes lighting up, a grin plastered over his face</p><p>"...Yeah, I'm in, but I have a question first,"</p><p>"Shoot,"</p><p>"Are you sure you want to be pursuing medicine when you'd clearly be an excellent journalist?"</p><p>Yuri smiled again, although this time a bit more somber, and shook his head</p><p>"Actually I'm not that interested in medicine, I'd prefer to do something more athletic and exciting, but it's a little late for all of that now so.... anyway, journalism's not really my thing, too much crap I don't care about to actually make a career of it,"</p><p>That was fair, although it made Otabek rather sad to know that Yuri was seemingly "stuck" with a career that he didn't actually care for...</p><p>"So where do we go from here?" he asked after a second, watching Yuri clean up the scattered pages he had littered across the table</p><p>"Oh don't worry about that," Yuri grinned, eyes glinting with mischeif</p><p>"I already have an idea in mind,"</p><p> </p><p>~+~</p><p> </p><p>"Hello Emil,"</p><p>Glancing up from his lunch, the blonde stared up at Yuri with surprise and a hint of confusion</p><p>"Um, hello there.... Mr...?"</p><p>"Plisetsky, Yuri Plisetsky," he said simply, not bothering to ask before taking a seat across from the other man</p><p>"We attend the same school,"</p><p>"Oh, do we?"</p><p>"We do,"</p><p>"Ok...." Emil said slowly, head tilting</p><p>"Is there something I can help you with?"</p><p>"Yes as a matter of fact there is, your family owns Nikola Locksmith right?"</p><p>"Yeah, actually, how'd you know?"</p><p>"Oh I had someone come out to work on my car a wile back and I remember them dropping your name,"</p><p>Lies, all lies, but Emil didn't need to know that</p><p>"Freinds and family discount?" Emil guessed</p><p>"Oh no no, nothing like that, I was actually hoping you could work on a.... <em>private</em> project for me,"</p><p>"Oh but I'm not a locksmith, my brother owns that company, I--"</p><p>"But you do know how to use the kits right?"</p><p>"Well.... yes....."</p><p>"Then you could help me," Yuri insisted</p><p>"I recently did one of those DNA kit things and found out that I actually have a close relative right here in the graveyard across from campus,"</p><p>"You do?" Emil asked in surprise</p><p>"Yeah, Ekatarina Nikiforov, I talked to my grandfather back in Russia and he said that she was buried with a family heirloom, a sapphire necklace that goes all the way back to the Nikolaevna family, you know.... the lost princess Anastasia?"</p><p>"Really?" Emil breathed, clearly becoming more and more captivated by the second</p><p>Yuri wasn't surprised, that old "I'm related to Anastasia" trick did it everytime, and it was easy to fish out who would believe him and who wouldn't- people who actually knew half a shit about Anastasia knew that she was a duchess, not a princess, if they fell for the princess gimmick then they probably would believe whatever story Yuri told them</p><p>One of the few benefits of being unmistakably Russian he supposed</p><p>"Yep, the necklace was given to my grandmother from a few generations back by Anastasia herself apparently, right before all hell broke loose, it was passed down to my aunt Ekatarina who loved it so much that she insisted it be put in her urn with her when she was buried, she had no direct descendants unfortunately and at the time no real communication with the rest of our family, but... it's my grandfather's greatest wish to see that necklace just one more time.... and I need to get it, but she's in a crypt, her urn I mean, and alot of our documentation of relation has been destroyed over the years, in no small part thanks to the fire she died in, so we can't get a key legally, I was hoping maybe you could make one for us?"</p><p>"I don't know about that.... isn't that illegal?"</p><p>"Hardly, it's just skipping a bunch of the legal red tape, that's all, there's nothing really wrong with that,"</p><p>Emil didn't look nearly so convinced</p><p>"I'm still really not sure...."</p><p>That was fine, Yuri had anticipated this little snag</p><p>"Look, Emil, I know that you have a crush on Michele Crispino,"</p><p>And there was the slightly startled look he was hoping for that confirmed those suspicions- sometimes it really paid to have a freind who was a gossip hound</p><p>"I can get you a date with him, just say the word,"</p><p>"And how would you do that exactly?"</p><p>"Let's just say I have connections,"</p><p>Incidentally Michele had a sister complex and refused to let his sister Sara out of his sight, wich was incredibly convenient in this case, as Sara had been trying for weeks to make a date with Yuri's gossipy freind Mila</p><p>Mila and Sara would get their date and Yuri could set up Michele and Emil for the table behind them- to Emil it would be a date, to Michele it would be assistance with spying on his sister</p><p>Win/win</p><p>"I still don't know, what if we get caught?"</p><p>"Oh we won't, I have a solution for that,"</p><p> </p><p>~+~</p><p> </p><p>"I still can't believe he wasn't more suspicious about the tunnels under the school,"</p><p>"People believe what they want to believe, and he really wanted to believe that I was distant royalty and could get him a date with his annoying crush,"</p><p>Otabek shook his head slowly, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't atleast a little impressed</p><p>With the key to the drawer successfully in hand, Yuri eagerly pushed it into the lock, his heart racing with excitement as he turned it and opened up the small panel in the wall, revealing a large urn sitting in the center of the space</p><p>"I still don't know why you're so sure Ekatarina has whatever you're looking for and not Aleksander," Otabek mused</p><p>"Because Ekatarina founded the school, I have a feeling she was the mastermind behind everything," Yuri replied simply, reaching in and carefully picking up the urn</p><p>It was certainly heavy... and upon giving it a small shake, there wasn't any noise either...</p><p>Curiously, he scrunched up his features, pulled the lid off, and found..... ashes.....</p><p>"Shit..." Otabek hissed quietly</p><p>"Maybe you were wrong, maybe the grave is the fake one," Otabek suggested</p><p>Yuri had initially suggested that the bodies were in their graves wile the crypt held some sort of secret based on the combination of facts that the crypt was connected to the tunnels and that the Nikiforovs had still gone by their American names at the time of death, why, he had posed, would they have been buried under the real names when they never went by them during their time in America?</p><p>It was a reasonable question, but now they were faced with the possibility that Yuri's assumption had been wrong</p><p>"I still don't believe that," the blonde argued, unceremoniously reaching into the urn, wich startled a shout of Yuri's name from Otabek</p><p>"There's something in here, Otabek, I can feel it,"</p><p>"What you can <em>feel</em> is a dead woman's ashes between your fingers! This isn't a game Yuri, you can't-!"</p><p>"AHA!!"</p><p>Proudly, Yuri turned around and waved a little golden key at the brunette, eyes flickering with excitement</p><p>........</p><p>Well damn</p><p>"What do you think this goes to?" Yuri asked curiously</p><p>"I haven't the foggiest,"</p><p>"Mmm.... well, it's a good thing we blocked off the afternoon for exploring then, come on,"</p><p>Sliding the key into his pocket and putting everything else securely back where they had found it, Yuri hurried back down the ladder with Otabek just ahead of him and recovered the entrance to the crypt before moving towards the main tunnel</p><p>"Ok, your choice- left or right?"</p><p>Taking a breath, Otabek went with his gut instinct</p><p>"Right,"</p><p> </p><p>~+~</p><p> </p><p>If they had thought it had been a massive undertaking to crawl through the tunnel leading to the crypt, they could look back at that as a near vacation compared to the amount of trekking they had to do to get through the next tunnel</p><p>Granted, there was atleast the fact that this tunnel was considerably bigger, and about half-way through they were able to actually walk, wich made the last stretch considerably easier to get through</p><p>But it was still a pain in the ass</p><p>"A... door...?"</p><p>Yep, what was in front of them was a massive wooden door, old and with an iron lock, it looked like something out of a fantasy movie</p><p>....</p><p>Or a horror movie</p><p>"Do you think the key works?" Otabek asked as he watched Yuri move closer, taking the key from his pocket</p><p>"We're about to find out,"</p><p>Taking a deep breath, Yuri slipped the key into the lock and gave it a twist, heartrate ticking up just a bit at the satisfying <em>click</em> of the tumblers rolling the right way and effectively freeing the lock's hold on the door</p><p>Exchanging one short glance, the blonde pushed the door open and stepped inside, somewhat amazed at the total change in flooring that passed the threshold</p><p>On the tunnel's side was just dirty, plain, concrete, but on the door's side was finely finished cobblestone, complete with a <em>Please wipe your paws</em> doormat</p><p>It kind of threw off the atmosphere to be honest</p><p>All the same though, they figured it would be rude not to, so they wiped their feet on the mat and stepped inside, staring at the utterly massive room around them</p><p>It was lit by torches and had that "underground dwelling but still kind of fancy" vibe to it, a large circular table sat in the center with nice leather chairs stationed around it, and several other doors along the sides of the room</p><p>"What the fuck is this? King Arthur: Gothic Edition?" Yuri huffed as he took a step towards the table</p><p>The thing was clawfoot for God's sake!</p><p>"School Board Of The Fucking Round Table?"</p><p>"These are artificial..."</p><p>Glancing over his shoulder at Otabek, Yuri's eyebrows raised, watching as he took one of the torches in hand and passed his hand over the "flame"</p><p>"Excuse me?"</p><p>"They're not real torches, they're artificial, battery operated,"</p><p>Turning the torch over, bottom towards Yuri, the blonde could indeed see where there was a small latch for a battery compartment</p><p>"Wow, Fancy Gothic <em>and</em> Urban Cheap, pick a theme already pricks,"</p><p>Setting the torch back where it belonged, Otabek started closer to his freind, exhaling quietly as his eyes flickered between the doors</p><p>"Well? Your turn to choose, I think,"</p><p>Yuri nodded slowly, looking between them himself before just deciding to pick one at random</p><p>"That one," he finally said, pointing to the door directly behind the table</p><p>To his surprise, it wasn't locked, they were able to walk right in</p><p>But that was considerably <em>less</em> surprising than what they found on the other side</p><p>It was an enormous library, maybe not as big as the one in Beauty &amp; The Beast or anything, but still big enough for a dozen people to easily and comfortably litter the place</p><p>The two of them wordlessly split up again, with Yuri going towards one shelf and Otabek going towards another</p><p>The shelf that had caught Yuri's eye was bright and colorfull, full of backwards books, pulling out a few revealed them to be manga, manwha, and other assorted graphic novels, a large case of comic books right next to it</p><p>"Shit..."</p><p>"What?" Otabek asked, glancing over his shoulder as Yuri turned around, pointing animatedly to one of the comic books</p><p>"These fuckers have a Gotham City Sirens omnibus! I mean, I'm not into comic books enough to know how rare it is or anything but fucking cool!"</p><p>Otabek chuckled softly, his expression soft as he turned back to the shelf he was examining</p><p>"We're not stealing it,"</p><p>"I... wasn't thinking of stealing it," Yuri scoffed back- a terrible lie even by his own standards to be honest</p><p>"But out of curiosity, why not?"</p><p>"Because unlike a bunch of snacks, I think they'll notice if that's missing, first of all, and second of all, this is stealing from an actual <em>person</em> for the sake of stealing, not lifting some overpriced chips from an expensive university that can afford to lose them,"</p><p>"Oh yeah, because these bastards really look like they're hard-up for cash and will immediately notice one single book missing," Yuri huffed back, eyes rolling, though he knew stealing it probably wouldn't be very good for his karma...</p><p>He stepped over to another shelf, eyebrows raising when he hit what he personally perceived as a jackpot</p><p>There was a shelf seemingly entirely dedicated to Yuri Katsuki's books, the name "Lily Snow" elegantly printed on every spine, wich meant that they either had entered the basement of a crazy obsessed fan... or Katsuki and Nikiforov's house</p><p>Or, you know, whatever the hell this was</p><p>"Who would've thought Nikiforov and his hubby have good taste in comics?" he mused to himself, eyes lighting excitedly on a collected edition of Lucifer</p><p>"I'm not so sure that those belong to Nikiforov,"</p><p>Glancing over his shoulder as Otabek put another book back on the shelf, Yuri raised his brows again</p><p>"Huh? Why not? It's obviously his place, his little love shrine to his husband here kinda proves that, I mean I don't think the average American mom exactly has this library in her cellar,"</p><p>"Because I think that this library belongs to <em>multiple</em> people, and not likely a single family either,"</p><p>Curiosity now officially piqued, Yuri set down the book he had been flipping through and made his way across the library to where Otabek was</p><p>"What makes you say that?"</p><p>"Because these are in different languages, <em>alot</em> of different languages,"</p><p>Nodding to the desk in front of him where he had laid out a few books, he started listing them off one by one</p><p>"English, Russian, Japanese, Spanish, Thai, Chinese, Italian, French... even if Nikiforov and his husband are serious polyglots, why would thy have so many books in all these languages? It's one thing to speak them, it's another entirely to read in them for fun,"</p><p>"Maybe they're rare books or those are first-editions or something?" Yuri suggested, tilting his head</p><p>"I saw some comic books in plastic sleeves on the other shelf, that must mean those are valuable, typically translated books don't hold much value,"</p><p>"That's possible, but think about the huge variety of genre, westerns, trashy romance, YA novels, fantasy, horror, crime thrillers, sci-fi, non-fiction, a ton of books about music and some about sports, on your side there's alot of comic books and graphic novels, and children's books that <em>weren't</em> written by Yuri Katsuki, even if they're just collectors- wich I find hard to believe given I haven't come across many classics- the variety is outrageous, usually the only collectors that have this kind of variety are bookstore owners, and then there's the religious text,"</p><p>"Religious text?" Yuri echoed in surprise, following as Otabek lead him to another shelf</p><p>"Look at the range of religions- Christianity, Buddhism, Paganism, New Age, Shintoism... and the <em>types</em> of books... it's not like it's just the Bible or anything, there are books about Santa Muerte, about Norse gods and Greek gods and Celtic gods, books written by historians and some written by psychics.... it's..... for lack of a better term, a clusterfuck,"</p><p>"You do have a good point," Yuri agreed, glancing up at Otabek with raised brows</p><p>"Sooooo........ cult?"</p><p>"I'm still not totally convinced it's a cult, although... if this place belongs to more than just Nikiforov and his husband then I suppose that's a possibility, either way, we should keep exploring,"</p><p>Grinning, Yuri's eyes lit up and he grabbed Otabek's hand</p><p>"I was hoping you would say that,"</p><p>There was a second door on the opposite side of the library from where the first was, and just like the first door, this one was also unlocked</p><p>The second room seemed to be some sort of den or living room- and quite a fancy one at that</p><p>There was a big leather sectional and several plush armchairs, a glass coffee table, several shelves of nick-nacks and a few other books, a TV, a game system, a stereo....</p><p>"Shit, this place is tricked out," Yuri said with a low wistle, eyebrows raising when he spotted a large dog bed in one corner, then a much smaller cat bed across from it</p><p>"No kidding.... I'm surprised they have electricity down here," Otabek mused, grabbing the TV remote off of the coffee table and turning it on, eyebrows raising whe it not only actually <em>worked</em>, but landed on an episode of Rupaul's Drag Race too</p><p>"....And apparently have cable too...."</p><p>Where did the cords even connect...?</p><p>"Ummm.... Otabek?"</p><p>Glancing over his shoulder at Yuri, he found the blonde standing in another doorway- though, this one didn't actively have a door separating one room from another, rather, it was just an open entryway</p><p>"You might wanna see this..."</p><p>Turning the TV off quickly, Otabek headed towards the entryway as suggested and immediately realized what had his freind so stunned</p><p>There was a long hallway in front of them filled with doors, relatively well spaced out but.... extremely long....</p><p>Exchanging looks, neither of them hesitated to start exploring, finding some doors unlocked, others locked but opening once Otabek slid the key inside- he determined, at that point, that it must be a skeleton key</p><p>"I think you were right, about multiple people sharing this place," Yuri mused as he peered into one of the rooms- a bedroom</p><p>They were <em>all</em> bedrooms</p><p>Each one seemed significantly different too, varying between smaller beds that were likely only meant for one person to king sized that were more likely meant for two, some rooms had laptops and phone chargers, others had pet beds and a few scattered pet toys, personal touches like posters and picture frames also peppered the rooms, and one even had a bassinet in the corner, a half-done paint job on the walls that indicated a child's room was being prepared, a stark contrast to several of the other far more adult themed bedrooms they had discovered</p><p>Gone were all doubts that it was just the weird couple that stayed there</p><p>"There's a kitchen this way," Otabek noted, gesturing to another entryway near that of the living room and catching Yuri's attention once again</p><p>The kitchen was relatively simple compared to the rest of the underground whatever-it-was, but it still seemed pristine and neat, and most importantly, suitable for several people to flitter about comfortably in</p><p>A stove, a microwave, a refrigerator, and a coffee machine included just a few of the appliances, all of wich worked, determined by Otabek's curious testing</p><p>There was a stocked pantry and cabinets full of dishware, a rack of coffee mugs that all stood out from eachother in pattern and design...</p><p>"I think I know what this is,"</p><p>Glancing up from the row of mugs he was examining, Yuri turned back towards Otabek, eyebrows raised</p><p>"Oh yeah? And what would that be?"</p><p>"I think we're in a doomsday bunker,"</p><p>.....<em>Oh</em></p><p>"How do you figure?"</p><p>"Well, they're stocked up on food for one thing, mostly non-perishables, and honestly this place seems like the ideal place for... what, a dozen people? To hunker down for months or... even years at a time, this is the apocalypse bunker all doomsdayers <em>wish</em> they had but only the rich ones can afford, it actually reminds me of the one from <em>The 100</em>,"</p><p>"...The hundred what?"</p><p>Otabek glanced at his partner breifly before giving a small shake of his head</p><p>"Nevermind, I think that's what we're looking at here,"</p><p>"Could be.... but that still doesn't explain why they hid the key to this place in a jar of ashes in a crypt, or why there are tunnels under the school,"</p><p>"Sure it does, think about it, if <em>you</em> were rich and crazy and had this place all to yourself and a few select freinds, would <em>you</em> want to give total strangers easy access?"</p><p>"Well... no... I guess not..."</p><p>"Exactly, and as for the school, that's just ease of access, Nikiforov owns the school technically, as his mother founded it, and I'm willing to bet that atleast one or two of the other people who have access here work at the university in some capacity, Nikiforov probably lives nearby too, and if they're preparing for an apocalypse, they're not going to want to waste time getting to their safe bunker by having to drive a long way, hell even if they managed to get to the crypt in time, that's actually a pretty good place to hide out if the apocalypse is caused by some sort of war effort rather than disease or nuclear genocide, not many people would be looking for victims in a graveyard,"</p><p>"I guess you have a point..." Yuri mumbled, absently walking towards another door and sliding it open</p><p>"I can't believe we went through all of this just for some stupid bunker though,"</p><p>"What, you'd have <em>rathered</em> it be a cult?" Otabek chuckled, following his freind as Yuri disappeared into the next room</p><p>"Well I wouldn't phrase it like <em>that</em>, but.... this is just kinda boring, I guess,"</p><p>"Mmm, maybe.... but I did have fun exploring it with you," Otabek promised, a warm smile resting on his face, clearly pleasing Yuri as he smiled back up at his freind</p><p>"Yeah... I had fun exploring it with you too," he promised, stepping further into the mystery room, eyebrows slowly raising</p><p>"Wow, a wine cellar, why am I even surprised?"</p><p>"Good question, you shouldn't be, I mean they have a snowcone machine for crying out loud,"</p><p>"True," Yuri chuckled, reaching for one of the bottles and carefully removing it from it's shelf</p><p>"Huh.... <em>Mary's Vineyard</em>.... that's... weird...."</p><p>"What's weird about it?"</p><p>"Well, I've never heard of Mary's Vineyard, my grandfather has always preached about the importance of good booze so I know all of the high end places, you'd think people this stupidly rich would have wine that's more high end,"</p><p>"Maybe it's a local place?" Otabek suggested, pulling a random bottle from the shelf a few feet away, but...</p><p>
  <em>Mary's Vineyard</em>
</p><p>...</p><p>Huh</p><p>Exchanging looks, the two of them got to work examining a few other bottles, but over the course of several minutes of pulling random bottle after random bottle, not once did they come up with anything but that one brand</p><p>"Ok, NOW this is weird," Yuri insisted</p><p>"Or maybe it's just particularly good or sustainable wine and that's why it's all by the same place," Otabek proposed, though Yuri didn't seem to believe him</p><p>"I don't know about that,"</p><p>Otabek's expression only grew a bit more grim as he gently placed a hand on Yuri's shoulder, prompting the blonde to look up at him and tilt his head</p><p>"Yuri, I know you want this to be some giant... conspiracy theory or something, but.... you have to consider the possibility that it might not be, it might be weird and kind of crazy but it might be <em>just</em> weird and crazy, not sinister,"</p><p>Sighing quietly, Yuri gave a slow nod and put the bottle of wine back where it belonged, pouting slightly as he turned his attention back up to Otabek</p><p>"Yeah... I guess you're right, then... let's get going, there's no use in exploring this more if we're not going to find anything else,"</p><p>Smiling slightly, Otabek nodded in approval and placed a hand on his lower back, guiding him out of the wine cellar and back in the direction of the tunnels</p><p>Unfortunately however, getting back to the school was alot easier said than done</p><p>The tunnel leading back was so long and winding that it was easy to get lost, and as the glow-in-the-dark stickers had been gradually peeling off and getting lost for days now, there was no easy guidance system back either</p><p>Finally, after what must have been an hour of going around in what felt like circles, Yuri glanced up and saw a bit of light- just a tad- shining in from above them</p><p>"I think this is it," he decided, not even waiting on any confirmation that Otabek may have given him before rising up to firmly push the panel away, heart leaping in releif and excitement when it slid aside and pulling himself out of the tunnel</p><p>However, he quickly realized that he wasn't in the band room like he had thought, nor was he in the supply room they had been frequenting lately, instead they were someplace entirely different</p><p>"Is this... even the school anymore...?" Otabek asked in confusion, looking around the unfamiliar environment as the two of the climbed out</p><p>"Yeah.... I think it is, I mean, it's <em>a</em> school anyway," Yuri replied slowly as he took a step towards the desk in the corner</p><p>They were in a science classroom, as evidenced by the sinks along the back wall and a few biology themed items of decor, but the lights were off and any desks or tables were cleared, all but the teacher's desk at the front of the room</p><p>Plopping down in the chair behind it, he started to go through the drawers and search the furniture for any signs of identification, but.... nothing....</p><p>"It's definitely campus," Otabek mused from where he stood by the windows, having pulled the blinds back to look outside and recognizing the familiar landscape</p><p>"Mm, well that's one mystery solved," Yuri noted blandly as he stood up and headed over to the large cabinet up against one wall</p><p>Locked, he determined, staring down at the small padlock keeping the doors closed</p><p>"I wonder..."</p><p>With only slight hesitation, he pulled the skeleton key from his pocket and slid it into the lock, eyes widening as the familiar <em>clink</em> of the tumblers fixing into place rang through his ears</p><p>Quickly, he undid the lock and pulled the cabinet doors open, face draining of color as he stared at what was inside</p><p>"Yuri? What is it?"</p><p>"It's.... coolers...." Yuri answered slowly, swallowing tightly and reaching down to take the lid off of the first one</p><p>They were just regular coolers, like the kind you could buy at a local big-box store and take to the beach, but what was inside them was considerably.... <em>not</em>.... normal....</p><p>Opaque waterbottles, that, upon picking up, Yuri discovered were both full and kept cold, even though he didn't see any ice in the coolers, and when he unscrewed the cap-</p><p>"HOLY SHIT!"</p><p>The bottle hit the floor with a splattering thud, Yuri stumbling backwards as he stared in shock at the blood that now littered the floor</p><p>"Yuri? What-"</p><p>"Blood!!" he shouted, staring up at Otabek with a look of fright on his face</p><p>"I-It's blood! The fuckers have blood in water bottles!! See?! I TOLD you it was a fucking cult!!"</p><p>Now thoroughly done with screwing around, Otabek didn't hesitate to hurry across the room and grab him by the arm</p><p>"Come on, we're leaving,"</p><p>"B-But what if-"</p><p>"If someone comes in and sees it it won't matter, they won't know it was us, now come on,"</p><p>Too shell-shocked to argue, Yuri nodded slowly and reluctantly followed Otabek out of the room, hurrying down the hall and taking note of the fact that they were in the sealed off wing of the university, the place that had been "under construction" since Yuri had first started attending several months back</p><p>Luckily, Yuri observed as they walked, no one saw them</p><p>As long as they didn't get caught, this wouldn't be a problem</p><p>And as for the blood.....</p><p>Well, he still had to figure out what exactly to do about that....</p><p> </p><p>~+~</p><p> </p><p>The day after the blood incident, Yuri stepped into the lecture hall, half wondering if he should just call it quits and feign illness to get out of classes for the day</p><p>He had barely slept, he couldn't think, his mind was just so foggy and clouded by everything from the day before....</p><p>He really couldn't concentrate on anything</p><p>"I'd like to introduce our guest lecturer for today," the professor droned on, just as Yuri was starting to seriously consider leaving</p><p>"Viktor Nikiforov, one of the most well-respected psychologists in the country,"</p><p>That certainly got the blonde's attention though</p><p>He jerked his head up, his face pale as he watched a tall and beautifull silver-haired man take stage at the podium, thanking the professor for the introduction</p><p>No.....</p><p>No no no this was... this was <em>crazy</em>....</p><p>No part of Yuri's research had ever labelled Nikiforov as a doctor of any kind so why...?</p><p>Assuming the worst, he immediately stood up, planning to make a run for it, but-</p><p>"Ah, leaving already? But I haven't even started yet,"</p><p>The voice was as smooth as warm honey, dripping with a thick Russian accent and dangerous venom</p><p>He slowly turned to look at the stranger, at the haughty expression on his face, the coldness of his icy blue eyes and the way that smirk of his curved against his sharp features</p><p>He was like a viper, just waiting for his prey to move so he could strike </p><p>"I'm not a psychology student, so... this will be useless to me," he replied simply</p><p>"Mm, I wouldn't say that, psychology can be used in alot of different areas of medicine you know," he mused, his fingers gliding along the edge of the podium as he slowly sauntered towards the front of it</p><p>"I've long thought that it's a tragedy that it isn't implemented in the medical practices more, that mind medicine and body medicine so often exclude eachother, so many mistakes are made that way, so often that a patient comes in complaining of symptoms that are misdiagnosed and mistreated... patients who need psychological help but are ignored by M.D.s and brushed off as just being tired or depressed, as though depression isn't something that needs treatment, or coming in to a psychologist's office and put on medication only to find out later that the patient was suffering from a neurological problem or even at times a physical disease that poorly impacts the brain like meningitis,"</p><p>Yuri swallowed, watching as the other man leaned back against the podium, eyes practically glowing with arrogance</p><p>"I think it's a shame, so often patients have something very real to complain about, something very real to be concerned about, because our feilds don't communicate with eachother very much, even the most trusted doctors make simple mistakes, and even the most reliable and honest patients are totally ignored, because the doctor they're speaking to isn't aware that what they're trying to report even exists, isn't that a shame, Mr. Plisetsky?"</p><p>"How do you know my name?" Yuri asked pensively</p><p>"Well there's only one student on the roll call with a Russian name and your accent is very distinctly Russian so.... easy deduction, am I wrong though?"</p><p>This was a trap</p><p>He knew it was</p><p>Now thoroughly spooked, Yuri hurried out of the lecture hall, despite Nikiforov chattering away behind him</p><p>He needed to get out of there</p><p>He and Otabek just needed to get away from the school for a little wile, that was all, get out of the school, get out of the <em>city</em>, maybe even out of the state, just.... just for a week or two.... that would be fine</p><p>They were both A students, they could afford it</p><p>But he had to get Otabek first</p><p>He remembered Otabek saying recently that he had an hour off between eleven and twelve that he spent in the library having lunch, if he could just get to the library-</p><p>"Ah, there you are Yuri,"</p><p>Skidding suddenly to a stop, the blonde stared in horror as Otabek stepped out of the library, a slightly taller brunette with glasses just behind him</p><p>"I was just on my way to find you,"</p><p>Come to think of it, in all those articles Yuri had printed out, not one of them had had a picture of Yuri Katsuki, so even though Yuri had seen pictures of the other Yuri online and knew his face, Otabek didn't</p><p>"Beka... get awa-!"</p><p>"Oh good, I've caught up to you,"</p><p>The sound of Nikiforov's voice behind him put him even more on edge, he hurriedly turned around, only to have a strange purple powder blown in his face</p><p>Faintly, he could hear Otabek calling out to him, but it was the last thing he managed to acknowledge before passing out cold</p><p> </p><p>~+~</p><p> </p><p>Waking with a gasp, Yuri jolted forward, heart sinking with panic as he felt his arms catch against the back of... something... and hold him in place</p><p>A quick veiw of the area told him most of what he needed to know</p><p>He was chained to a metal chair, his hands handcuffed through the center of it behind him, and Otabek sitting in a similar position beside him</p><p>Otabek was already awake, staring at him with concern as he tried to get his bearings</p><p>They were in that fucking bunker, he was sure of it, even though he didn't recognize the room it's self, it somewhat resembled a dungeon, and evidently not a sex one....</p><p>Their backpacks had been set neatly on a table several feet away, no chance really of getting to them, and standing before them, were Viktor Nikiforov and Yuri Katsuki, the latter lacking his innocent seeming large-framed glasses, his hair slicked back, giving the formerly gentle seeming children's writer a much more serious and sinister look about him, better matching his intimidating husband</p><p>"I'm glad to see you're finally awake," Nikiforov noted as he pushed away from the table he had been leaning against, leaving Katsuki to continue silently observing from his position there</p><p>"Now we can get this party started,"</p><p>"What the fuck did you do to us!?" Yuri screamed</p><p>"I would have thought it was obvious, we nocked you out,"</p><p>"I meant <em>how</em> you fucking supervillain wannabe!"</p><p>"Supervillain?" Nikiforov repeated, snorting and letting out a soft, humorless chuckle</p><p>"You people really do have this fantasy of us, don't you? This.... monsters under the bed approach to anyone who's different from you?"</p><p>"Us people?" Otabek echoed in confusion, eyes narrowing, clearly trying to peice together what the older man meant by that</p><p>"Wait a minute, are you doing this because you think we're straight or something?! B-Because we're not! I mean I'm as gay as they come! D-Do you think we're homophobic or something?!"</p><p>Seemingly caught off guard by that, Nikiforov and Katsuki exchanged bewildered glances, before Nikiforov turned back to look at the two captives again</p><p>"No.... this has nothing to do with sexuality, but good to know that we play for the same team, I guess,"</p><p>Yuri was about to start screaming questions again, but unfortunately, Nikiforov interrupted him</p><p>"I have a question of my own now, did you two really think you were going to get away with traipsing through our bunker and literally spilling our blood everywhere and not get caught?"</p><p>"How did you know it was us?" Otabek asked tensely</p><p>"Cameras, the classroom you ransacked, along with the entire wing, has cameras there, there's a motion activation gadget that alerts us to activity, we watched you two bumbling idiots fumble around in there,"</p><p>Oh.....</p><p>That... actually made alot of sense all things considered....</p><p>"Well in fairness, we didn't know about the cameras," Yuri grumbled</p><p>"How did you find us anyway?" Katsuki asked, not bothering to back away from his perch</p><p>"It was an accident, we found the tunnels from the panel in the band room and.... we just wanted some free snacks, that's all, then things got kind of.... convoluted from there..." Otabek confessed</p><p>"...An accident?" Katsuki repeated, clearly in disbeleif</p><p>"How did you get our skeleton key then?" Nikiforov prompted</p><p>"We know a locksmith, we made a deal with him to hook him up with some guy he likes,"</p><p>Again, the couple across from them exchanged bewildered glances, before turning back to stare at the duo instead</p><p>"And you just.... stumbled upon this looking for free snacks?" Nikiforov frowned</p><p>"Yeah, we went exploring and found the one that lead to the supply room so we raided it, we figured this place had already taken enough of our money and that vending machine in the blue hallway is a peice of fucking shit that keeps eating my money so... we swear, that was it, we didn't mean to find your creepy apocalypse cult!"</p><p>"...Apocalypse cult?" Nikiforov repeated slowly</p><p>"Y-Yeah... I mean.... that's what this is all about right? You have some weird fucking cult waiting on the end of days to happen or some shit? I mean Otabek just thought you were doomsdayers but then we found the blood..."</p><p>"Vitya," Katsuki said softly drawing Nikiforov's attention towards him</p><p>Nikiforov stepped away, back towards his husband, the two of them indulging in some private conversation as Otabek leaned over, wispering to Yuri</p><p>"You said you did ribbon dancing right?"</p><p>"Y-Yeah?"</p><p>"And pole dancing?"</p><p>"I.. <em>want</em> to do pole dancing but-"</p><p>"Ok but ribbon dancing has alot of acrobatics in it right?"</p><p>"S-Some, yeah, why-?"</p><p>"Get ready to use it,"</p><p>Yuri didn't even have time to further inquire as Nikiforov turned his attention back to them, taking a step closer</p><p>"So, you two are in quite a bit of trouble, what do you have to say for yourselves?"</p><p>"I say... that I wish things were like they were in Budapest,"</p><p>....</p><p>"Huh?" Yuri frowned, as confused as Nikiforov looked</p><p>"I said.... I wish things were the way they were... in <em>Budapest</em>," Otabek repeated, staring at Yuri pointedly</p><p>...</p><p>Too bad it didn't have any affect</p><p>"Budapest!" Otabek insisted, much to Yuri's increasing confusion</p><p>After a short beat of silence where confusion clearly reigned supreme, Otabek hung his head, sighing quietly</p><p>"In Budapest..... with Natasha?"</p><p>Suddenly it clicked into place, eyes widening as Yuri grinned</p><p>"Oh ok.... Budapest...."</p><p>They'd have to work on Otabek's code-word skills, but until then....</p><p>Yuri planted his feet firmly on the floor, then kicked up and tossed his body backwards........</p><p>Only for it to go absolutely nowhere</p><p>"GODDAMMIT!!!'</p><p>He really hadn't expected the chair to be bolted to the floor</p><p>They never show <em>that</em> in the cool spy movies</p><p>".....Did you just..... try to do the Black Widow thing from Avengers...?" Nikiforov asked slowly, face scrunched up, seemingly more offended than angry</p><p>"Is that what that horrible code word thing was all about?"</p><p>"And I would have gotten away with it too if the chair wasn't bolted to the floor! And it's not like we discussed an emergency word ahead of time!" Yuri shouted, somewhat embarrassed</p><p>"You said you were an Avengers fan, I thought it was clever," Otabek muttered</p><p>"That was one of the saddest things I've ever witnessed, I just have to be honest here," Nikiforov said flatly, taking a step towards Yuri</p><p>"But atleast it was somewhat entertaining,"</p><p>Yuri gritted his teeth, eyes narrowed as the older man came to a stop right in front of him, crouching down and looking into his eyes....</p><p>"Entertain this!"</p><p>....And receiving a very swift kick to the crotch, followed by Yuri's nee colliding with his jaw</p><p>As hoped, Nikiforov tumbled, legs closing as he coughed out a breath and curled slightly in on himself, hitting the ground with a <i>thud</i></p><p>"Ok.... that was a <em>REALLY</em> stupid thing to do, for three reasons...."</p><p>....</p><p>Oh, Yuri was kind of counting on that taking him out</p><p>But instead, Nikiforov started to sit back up, his head still down, covering his expression, but it was easy to tell by his tone of voice how unhappy he was with this</p><p>"Firstly, because the chair is still bolted to the floor, even if you had taken me down just now, how were you expecting to get out of that? Even if you could have, you've got no idea where you are or how to get out, just short of killing me, I would have woken up sooner or later, and even if you had killed me you'd still be trapped down here,"</p><p>"Secondly, did you just.... <em>forget</em> that I was here?" Katsuki asked slowly, if possible, even more offended than his husband</p><p>"Even if you had managed to take down Viktor and get out of that chair, you still would have had to go through me, did you just... think I'd really be stupid enough to put myself in a position where you could take me down like you did to my husband?"</p><p>"And third..... now you've made me really <em>angry</em>...."</p><p>Nikiforov looked up, his eyes glowing bright red, pulling a shared gasp out of the two students as he climbed to his feet</p><p>"I was going to let you go! I <em>was</em> going to let you return to your lives with a warning but now? <em>Now</em> you've pissed me off! That hurt.... I had nothing against you before, but you've just changed that and now I'm feeling a little more <em>blood-thirsty</em>,"</p><p>Yuri watched, panicking, as the.... <em>creature</em> leaned over him, placing a hand on the back of his chair, his teeth long and sharp, like a monster's</p><p>There was a beat between them, a pause, before Nikiforov's lips twitched up into a grin and he leaned back, his eyes turning blue again, though the fangs stayed firmly in place</p><p>"Just kidding~"</p><p>.........</p><p>What...?</p><p>"<em>What</em>!?"</p><p>"Well you really deserved that," Nikiforov noted casually as he smirked down at the two of them</p><p>"You kicked me in the dick, vampire or not, that really does hurt, the least I could do to pay you back for that transgression is give you a little fright,"</p><p>"..Vampire..... you're joking again right?" Yuri asked slowly, watching with a sinking sensation as Nikiforov shook his head</p><p>"Not this time I'm afraid,"</p><p>"Now do you understand why we had to kidnap you?" Katsuki asked casually, finally pushing away from the table and walking closer to them</p><p>"What you found really was a bunker, meant to keep us safe in case the worst happens, but it isn't the end of the world we're afraid of, and the bunker is more than just a bunker,"</p><p>"We found your nest," Otabek concluded quietly, realization seeming to sink in</p><p>"Very good, you get a gold star," Nikiforov replied casually</p><p>"Yes, you found our nest, you found the place we've prepared in case we attract the attention of hunters, in case things go.... <em>wrong</em>... the way they did with Vitya's parents a few decades ago,"</p><p>"Your parents were killed by hunters?" Yuri asked, earning a nod from the older man</p><p>"Our house was set ablaze, after they were shot up full of vervain and killed, but they managed to save my life by locking me in the bunker under the house, wich had a tunnel to the school, I followed it there to safety and was later taken in by my godfather, the only surviving member of our nest other than myself, I decided then that I would create something better than just a single tunnel from our house to the school, that could have so easily been found and foiled my parents' attempt to save my life, I've been slowly building this place for over a decade now, it's designed specifically for people like us to find sanctuary, and for people like you to stay out,"</p><p>"That's why there's a skeleton key for everything important, so that if someone like us found the tunnels by mistake, we wouldn't be able to get to where you were staying," Otabek noted</p><p>"Yes, I wasn't counting on a locksmith, nor on someone being crazy enough to stick their hand into an urn full of ashes looking for a key that they didn't know was there,"</p><p>"Those ashes are fake aren't they?" Yuri guessed, earning a small, albeit sad smirk from Nikiforov</p><p>"Yes, my mother's real ashes are buried in her grave under her American name, I wish I had kept it, but my godfather insisted I change my name for safety, so it would be harder to track us, the family line of the hunters who took out my parents died off years ago, we made sure of that, so I don't mind people knowing about my connection now, but back then it was a safety hazard,"</p><p>"So when we found your nest.... you must have assumed we were hunters," Otabek said softly</p><p>"Or working for hunters, it wouldn't be the first time they sent innocents out to do their bidding," Katsuki replied with a shrug</p><p>"But wait a minute, if you're just a bunch of vampires then what's with all the weird shit? The... the tons of money and secret investments and the legal warfare on children's books!?"</p><p>"My husband is a children's writer, is it wrong to try to support him however I can?" Nikiforov asked in genuine confusion</p><p>"And everyone in our nest is some variety of queer, Vitya and I included, why <em>wouldn't</em> we try to fight for our rights? We're in a very unique position to do that, so... we want to, it isn't like it's entirely altruistic, but it isn't as self-serving as you seem to think it is either," Katsuki added</p><p>"As for the investments, what, I can't have a career?" Viktor chuckled</p><p>"My parents were rich yes, I inherited that fortune, I decided to use it to fund other people's dreams and projects, I help them succeed and get a small profit in return for the initial investment, and best of all, I make alot of freinds and connections that are more than willing to help me with my own needs later on, and ofcourse I can hardly feel bad about it, those investments are how I met my darling Yuri," he purred, leaning over to give his Yuri an adoring kiss</p><p>"Then that's how you ended up with so many legal and political connections?" Otabek guessed</p><p>"Sure, take our favorite lawyer for example, I funded her girlfreind's restaurant start-up, Mila has been happy to help us free of charge ever since, and after Sara bit her a few months back, she's been even more happy to help, being part of our nest now,"</p><p>"And I'm willing to bet that you weren't just trying to protect your bunker when you came after us, you were protecting the people in your nest too,"</p><p>Viktor nodded, wrapping an arm around his husband</p><p>"There are lots of personal things in there that could identify us, if you knew who we were, you could come after us even if we were to seal off the bunker,"</p><p>Yuri was quiet for a moment, his shoulders sagging as he flashed back to all of those personal touches, the nick-nacks, the photos, the.... bassinet....</p><p>"Wich is especially dangerous now I'm guessing.... you're expecting a baby, aren't you?" he concluded softly, earning another nod from Viktor as he leaned over to kiss his Yuri's cheek again</p><p>"Now you understand, all of this,"</p><p>"It's just to protect yourselves and the people you love,"</p><p>Now Yuri felt kind of horrible, he had actually endangered the lives of these people who he had never even met, who had apparently done nothing wrong, just to satisfy his curiosity and his desperation for adventure....</p><p>"But wait, what about all that blood?"</p><p>"You mean the Mary's Vineyard bottled blood? That's my own company, don't worry, it's humanely sourced, it's all donated blood,"</p><p>"Actually I meant the stuff in the school cabinet,"</p><p>Yuri hadn't realized that "wine" was actually blood, but he supposed now it made an awfull lot of sense...</p><p>"Oh that, that entire sector is for emergencies, if someone is being hunted or in trouble they can go through there to get to the tunnels and have some blood to replenish if need be, we try to keep the entrances from the school open in case there are people outside of our nest who need help, they'll be able to smell the blood and pick up on our scents to track us down and and get assistance or hide in the tunnels if they need to, that's the other reason we have the cameras in that hall, so we know if someone is trying to hurt us.... or if someone needs help, so we can hurry to assist them,"</p><p>Yuri's shoulders sagged, exhaling slightly as he looked up at the other two</p><p>"So.... what are you going to do now? We swear we're not going to tell anybody or anything, are you... going to let us go?"</p><p>"Yes," Viktor smiled, taking a step towards them</p><p>"And we know you aren't going to tell anyone, hard to do if you don't remember any of this ever happened,"</p><p>"Wait... what?"</p><p>"We have to erase your memories," the other vampire noted, walking towards the pair of humans</p><p>"You won't remember any of this, wich will protect us, but also protect you, hunters can't potentially use you for information that you don't have after all,"</p><p>"Wait a minute... don't do that! Please!" Yuri shouted, much to the other Yuri's surprise</p><p>"And why not? It won't hurt, I promise, you'll wake up in your dorm room in an hour or so and remember none of this,"</p><p>"I know, but... but I don't want to forget! If you erase our memories then you'll erase all this time that Otabek and I have had together, and... and I don't want to forget all of that, I don't.... I don't want to forget the time we've had together, I don't want us to go back to barely knowing eachother,"</p><p>"I'm sorry, but we don't exactly have another choice, you understand that we can't very well trust you just because you say that you're trustworthy, right?"</p><p>"Please, there's got to be some other option," Yuri insisted, glancing at Otabek longingly, lips pursed</p><p>"I.... I've been falling in love with him, this time we've had together has been the best I've ever had, I don't want to lose all of that, I should have said something sooner, I should have made more of an effort to spend time with him outside of all of this but I can't go back and change that decision, so.... please, don't take this away from us,"</p><p>He reached out for Otabek's hand, knowing that he wouldn't be able to touch it, what with their hands behnd bound securely behind their chairs, but he could see Otabek reaching back, and that was enough</p><p>"I'm sorry Yuri, I should have tried harder to make memories outside of this with you too,"</p><p>"You did try, I just.... always wanted the adventure,"</p><p>The vampire in front of them looked... sympathetic, actually, his shoulders sagging and his lips pursing as he turned towards Viktor, exchanging a long, indeterminable look, before glancing back at the budding couple</p><p>"Well, I suppose there <em>is</em> <strong>one</strong> other option you could take...."</p><p>"What is it?" Yuri asked immediately, turning back towards the vampire</p><p>He felt a chill go up his spine as the brunette's teeth shifted into fangs, a slight, dark grin crossing his features as his eyes turned red</p><p>Yuri swallowed, bracing himself, and at the last minute, managed to loop his pinkie finger with Otabek's</p><p>It wasn't much, but it was enough</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Eight months later...</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>This was it....</p><p>This was it, he knew it....</p><p>Just a little closer now.......</p><p>His eyes widened with excitement as he finally put his hands on the chest and pulled, yanking it upwards with the help of his boyfreind, swimming closer and closer to the surface and finally breaching the surface, setting the chest on top of the rock in front of them, <em>Good Vibrations</em> blasting from the little radio they had stationed nearby as Yura and Otabek both pulled their swimming masks and snorkles out, panting softly and grinning at eachother as they immediately wrapped their arms around eachother and indulged in a deep, excited kiss</p><p>Wordlessly, Otabek helped his smaller boyfreind onto the rocks before pulling himself up to sit beside him, watching as Yura pushed a few of his long blonde strands out of his eyes before easily snapping the old padlock off of the treasure chest and pushing the lid up</p><p>His heart was racing, eyes bright and wide as he stared down at the pounds of gold coins that lay in front of him</p><p>"We did it.... we actually fucking did it!" he laughed in amazement</p><p>"Moonscar's Treasure..... we found it...." Otabek breathed, letting his fingers drag across the pile of gold coins in front of him</p><p>"This is so fucking awesome!! How much do you think this is?"</p><p>"Atleast a few million dollars worth,"</p><p>"Fucking awesome!!"</p><p>"We'd better call Viktor and Yuri,"</p><p>Yura pouted immediately, nose wrinkling as his boyfreind reached for his backpack and grabbed a towel, drying off his hands before taking his phone out of the front pocket</p><p>"Do we really have to?"</p><p>"You want to keep being in the treasure hunter business? Then yes," Otabek chuckled, kissing Yura's forehead as scrolled through his phone for their number, just as <em>"Good Vibrations"</em> ended and <em>"Kokomo"</em> began on the radio</p><p>Yura rolled his eyes and faked a pout, but he wasn't really disappointed</p><p>Their situation was..... incredible, and more than fair, he knew that</p><p>
  <em>"Hey guys! What's the news?"</em>
</p><p>"We found it," Otabek smiled proudly, leaning over to kiss Yura's cheek as the blonde rested his head against Otabek's shoulder</p><p><em>"Really?!?! Wow!! Amazing!!! You guys really are good at this,"</em> Viktor chuckled, his expression warm as he stared down into the video camera</p><p>"Yeah, we want to know how much of it we can keep," Yura interjected, earning a laugh from the silver-haired vampire</p><p><em>"Ah, Yura, never change,"</em> he smiled</p><p>
  <em>"I take it you're still on the island? I'll have a plane sent for you in the morning,"</em>
</p><p>"Actually, could you hold off for a couple of days? I... want to explore the island with Yura," Otabek suggested, face lightly pink, wich only seemed to amuse their "boss" even more</p><p>
  <em>"Ok, three days then? Yuri and I are finalizing your next mission, how do you feel about looking for the Amber Room? You'll get to go back to St. Petersberg for a little wile, visit your mother and grandfather in Russia,"</em>
</p><p>Before Yura could answer, Yuri's familiar voice interrupted</p><p>
  <em>"Wait, I thought we agreed their next trip would be to look for the Honjo Masamune?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Hm? When did we agree to that?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Last week? Video chatting with my parents?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Ah... did we really...?"</em>
</p><p>Yura rolled his eyes, leaning against Otabek a little more</p><p>"Well wile you fuckers figure it out, Beka and I are going to be here, just let us know by the time we get back to the nest, we want to get one more trip in before the holidays start,"</p><p><em>"We can do that,"</em> Yuri promised, settling carefully at the kitchen table in front of the camera lens, voice quiet and soft as kissed the head of the sleeping baby resting against his chest, an action that was quickly copied by his husband</p><p><em>"You guys enjoy the island, we'll talk to you soon, and congrats on finding the treasure,"</em> Viktor winked</p><p>"Yeah yeah, say hi to Mika for us when she wakes up," Yura replied with a half-wave, receiving a nod of affirmation as the screen went blank</p><p>"....Soooo..... about this vacation?" Yura asked with a grin, receiving a soft chuckle from Otabek in response as he leaned down to give his lover a kiss</p><p>"Mm, yes, I have a surprise waiting for you,"</p><p>"You... do?"</p><p>"Mm-hm, but first we have to get out of this cave,"</p><p>"Right," Yura nodded, grabbing his snorkling gear and starting to pack it into the water-proof backpack he brought with him</p><p>"You wanna take the extra equipment bag and I'll grab the treasure chest?" Otabek asked, receviing a thumb's up of approval from Yura as the blonde grabbed their radio to pack into the bag</p><p>"Sounds good to me,"</p><p>Time had done nothing to damage how well they worked together as a team- if anything, it only strengthened that connection even more</p><p> </p><p>~+~</p><p> </p><p>"Oh Beka.... it's beautifull....."</p><p>An ice rink all to themselves in the middle of the night....</p><p>Yura couldn't imagine a better surprise</p><p>He had always wanted to be an ice skater, and although he once thought that he was past his prime for it, Yuri and Viktor had given him a renewed lease on life, and things like age and time didn't really matter so much anymore</p><p>Ever since they made that deal with the so called "devils", Yura had been living his best life, experimenting with different sports and types of dance, learning how to figure skate, how to pole dance, even starting ballroom dance classes, just... for formal events and all, not like he was planning anything where ballroom dancing might be needed or anything, nope</p><p>He and Otabek had dropped out of medical school almost immediately to become professional explorers and treasure hunters instead, a decision that their parents had almost had strokes over, but without having to worry so much about money or about maintaining the type of lifestyle their parents wanted for them, why not live the dream?</p><p>They were good at exploring, great at treasure hunting, and they loved doing it</p><p>Exploring exotic places together all day and night, constantly spending time together and rarely having to interact with anyone else if they didn't want to, solving mysteries and occassionally producing some rare treasures to show for it</p><p>Viktor organized the entire thing, funded their expeditions and set up their initial plans for each journey, then just let them go, and in return, whatever treasures they found would be donated to various museums or historical societies who owed Viktor handsomely in money, favors, or both, it was a nice little miniature economy, a constant favor chain that they learned mirrored many of Viktor's dealings</p><p>It was.... nice</p><p>They had a home at the nest whenever they wanted to be there and the freedom to travel whenever they didn't, safety under the legal, influential, and at times physical protection of Viktor, his reputation, and their nest, and with spending nearly all of their time in remote locations off the grid, traveling constantly, they almost never had to worry about hunters</p><p>It was the pefect set up, and they couldn't be happier</p><p>"I thought you might enjoy this," Otabek noted with a small smile, kissing Yura breifly before setting down the bag he had brought with him, unzipping it to reveal that he had brought along their ice skates, much to Yura's delight</p><p>"How did you sneak those into our luggage?"</p><p>"I distracted you with cat videos and did it right behind your back," Otabek teased playfully</p><p>"Mmmm, valid,"</p><p>The only thing, he decided, that could make that evening better, would be if they could get a snack wile they were there</p><p>And as if the universe had heard him, the sound of opening doors and hushed giggling made it's way through the otherwise empty rink</p><p>
  <em>"You sure this is ok?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Positive, nobody else is here, come on, it'll be fun,"</em>
</p><p>Yura and Otabek exchanged glances, grinning at eachother as their eyes turned red, fangs popping out</p><p>"Hey Beka.... you feel like a quick midnight snack before we skate?"</p><p>"I was hoping you would ask,"</p><p>Getting snacks now-a-days wasn't nearly as much of a hassle as it used to be</p><p>After all, they didn't have to deal with vending machines</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>